King Solomon’s Mines (1937)

C. S. Lewis, a fan of H. Rider Haggard since boyhood, cordially disliked Robert Stevenson’s 1937 take on King Solomon’s Mines.
Among its offenses Lewis listed “the introduction of a totally
irrelevant young woman” (Haggard’s tale explicitly states at the outset
that there are no [European] women in it!) and the revisionism of the
finale at the mines, where Haggard’s chilling deathtrap becomes a
swashbuckling obtacle course with collapsing cliff walls and volcanic
eruptions.

Artistic/Entertainment Value

Moral/Spiritual Value

Age Appropriateness

MPAA Rating

Caveat Spectator

Lewis would have been left equally cold to subsequent screen
versions of Haggard’s story, all of which give Haggard hero Allan
Quatermain a female foil (who is always, except here, a love interest),
and none of which capture the deathly spell of the mountain tomb
(though the classic 1950 version is the least objectionable on this
point).

But the original 1937 adaptation, though dated, and hardly faithful
(even the hero’s name is misspelled “Quartermain” in a handwritten
note!), is still of interest to fans of vintage Saturday-matinee fare.
Its production values and special effects are impressive for the
period, and like the 1950 version it makes good use of authentic
African locations and performers, with real African natives as extras.
Only the evil witch doctor Gagool is played by a European (Sydney
Fairbrother) in blackface — though she is nevertheless the only
adequate Gagool in any screen version of the story.

As Quatermain, Cedric Hardwicke makes a rather professorial
protagonist; but top billing rightly goes to Paul Robeson, son of a
former slave and a celebrated performer and activist, who is an
impressive presence as the mysterious Umbopa, and sings a few
obligatory songs in his powerful baritone.